Resources to encourage your students in STEM

Chronicle Guest View

December 26, 2017

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education is important because it spreads through almost every part of our lives. By exposing students to STEM and giving them opportunities to explore STEM-related concepts, they may develop a passion for it and hopefully pursue a job in a STEM field. A curriculum that is STEM-based has real-life situations to help the student learn. Curiosity is a fundamental ingredient to the world of STEM. According to one study, children whose parents encouraged them to ask questions were more likely to succeed in science.

Central Rivers AEA Media Services provides many STEM educational materials to the teachers and students in the schools that we serve including: Google Expeditions virtual reality glasses, a variety of robots, coding resources for student hands-on learning, professional books for teacher study, and "Engineering is Elementary" kits.

One of the newest electronic resources for students this school year is Scholastic's ScienceFlix which is available through the Iowa AEA Online (www.iowaaeaonline.org) which parents and students may access at home. (Contact your school's library media specialist for your unique password.) With an emphasis on the latest STEM thinking and the Next Generation Science Standards, ScienceFLIX provides students with a better understanding of science concepts through hands-on projects, videos, interactive features and multiple text types. It is like a multimedia science encyclopedia with a target audience of grades 4 - 10. This resource also provides current articles on science news and STEM career information.

Article Photos

Cheryl Carruthers

Please let Central Rivers AEA Media Services know if you have any questions about the STEM resources available to our local school districts. You may contact us at 641-844-2410 or 800-735-1539 between the hours of 7:30 am - 4:30 pm, Monday through Friday.

Cheryl Carruthers is a Supervisor for Media Services with Central Rivers AEA based out of the Marshalltown Office. She can be reached at ccarruthers@centralriversaea.org.

Central Rivers AEA serves over 65,000 students. In addition, over 5,000 educators rely on Central Rivers AEA for services in special education, school technology, media and instructional/curriculum support. The agency's service area reaches 18 counties and nearly 9,000 square miles.